Ubuntu graphic stack roadmap update

[Marc Deslauriers]

On 13-06-27 12:44 PM, Kees Cook wrote:
> Hi Oliver,
> 
> On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 08:41:51AM -0600, Oliver Ries wrote:
>> Our Display Server Mir has gone from a proof of concept, sufficient to
>> justify its announcement in March this year, to high quality, high
>> performance component that we think will deliver the fastest, cleanest
>> display experience for the Ubuntu platform. We are confident that all
>> desktop environments and derivatives will work well throughout the
>> transition, based on our ability to provide a full X compatibility layer.
> 
> This is great! I'm really looking forward to having a viable windowing
> system that isn't hampered by X's limitations. Do you have some pointers
> to documentation on the security design work? This is, unsurprisingly
> for people that know me, of significant interest to me. Having a clear
> way to isolate windows and inputs has been, as I'm sure you know,
> a long-time need in X. And maybe we can get scan codes >255 now, too. :)

On of Mir's design goals is to _finally_ get rid of all the inherent security
flaws in X, such as event snooping, keyboard and mouse grabs, window grabbing, etc.

> 
>> Here is the roadmap and milestones for the Ubuntu graphics stack transition
>> to Mir:
>>
>> Ubuntu 13.10:
>> XMir on Mir by default, with a fallback session to X where there is no Mir
>> driver support, supported for 9 months
> 
> While I recognize this is a roadmap, this seems unrealistic to me. I feel
> there has been a long history of adopting things as default too early. With
> bugs like "vt switching doesn't work", and feature freeze in 2 months, I
> think it is way too early to declare something ready for default. Certainly
> ship it, make it available, but don't make it the default. Doing so would
> just make unwilling testers out Ubuntu users. Let people interested in the
> software test it, and once there is a trusted level of stability and
> features, make it the default.

That's the problem. In order to people to actually use it and test it, it
_needs_ to be the default. This needs to be done now so the LTS release will be
rock solid. Please don't make me support an LTS for another 5 years with an
insecure X. :)

Marc.